By Brendan Loy
Over on my photoblog, I've posted pictures from my trip to Phoenix and Denver.
We're back safe & sound in Knoxville, by the way. Loyette was once again a champion flyer -- though I think we'll be paying for the disruptions to her schedule in the form of weekend fussiness.
By Brendan Loy
Sorry for the lack of posts the last couple of days. I haven't moved up the date of my blog retirement, I promise. :) I've just been super-busy in Denver. And speaking of Denver, here's a cool photo of the D&F clock tower and the Moon last night:
During a previous trip to Denver, it became something of a running joke among Becky, the SHA girls and myself that I was constantly taking pictures of the clock tower. But I think that one's actually pretty neat!
The Moon and clouds weren't the only things in the sky over Denver last night. All evening long, a pair of military helicopters was circling over downtown. They were making a lot of noise, but at some points their lights appeared to be off, as if they were operating in some sort of (admittedly rather ineffective) stealth mode. I have no idea what that was all about ("we're being invaded by Utah," I hypothesized at one point), but it was a little creepy.
Oh, and speaking of, uh, security and stuff: I'm now at the airport waiting for my flight back to Phoenix. This will be my third of four flights in less than a week (Nashville to Phoenix, Phoenix to Denver, Denver to Phoenix, Phoenix to Nashville). So I've been spending a lot of time in airports, and I have a question. It's now been almost two years since the implementation of the "new" security measures involving liquids and gels. Yet all the signs and announcements still talk about these as temporary steps, due to "increased" security. At what point will we end this charade, and acknowledge that these measures are here to stay permanently, or at least indefinitely?
By Brendan Loy
We're safe and sound in Phoenix, having flown in from Tennessee yesterday with no Friday the 13th complications. :) Loyette was amazing; she didn't cry or fuss at all during takeoff, and she literally slept through landing. At one point in the middle of the flight, she woke up and cried for about 10 seconds -- but that was it. Otherwise she was completely calm for the entire flight. She's an amazing baby. :)
Also amazing: the view out the left-hand side of the plane, where we were sitting, looking south directly into a thunderstorm over west Texas. Neither the photos nor the video that I took remotely do the sight justice, but just for a taste, here's a photo:
It was really, really cool to see -- the second time in a week that I've been treated to a great lightning show. This time, of course, we were watching it from 36,000 feet, so it was a very different sort of view. There was lightning every couple of seconds, flashing across the sky and lighting up the clouds in all sorts of awesome patterns. Absolutely incredible.
Here's an archived radar image of what I believe is the line of storms that we were looking into:
By Brendan Loy
We've got a big weekend coming up, in terms of the calendar: tomorrow is Flag Day (and the 233rd anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Army), which of course means it's also Becky's birthday. And then Sunday is Father's Day -- my first as a dad -- and thus the final day of the U.S. Open, which will be kind of a big deal since we'll be visiting the golf-loving Zaks.
But before any of those special occasions can arrive, we have to get through today, which is... [cue horror-movie music]... Friday the 13th!! AAAAAHH!!! ;)
So, has anyone had any bouts of bad luck yet?
Personally, I don't suffer from Paraskavedekatriaphobia -- and a good thing, too, because tonight Becky, Loyette and I are flying to Phoenix! The drive to the Nashville Airport will be Loyette's longest car ride to date, followed by her first-ever plane trip. Wish us, um, luck!
UPDATE: A Friday the 13th fire and power outage in Washington, D.C.!
Commuters should expect major delays on Metro's Red Line this morning after a fire on the tracks near the Dupont Circle station, officials said. At the same time, a power outage in downtown Washington is affecting thousands of homes and offices, as well as traffic signals and Metro elevators and lighting.
It sounds like the fire and power outage were unrelated and coincidental. LOL! Friday the 13th is off to a rip-roarin' start. (Hat tip: ChrisN.)
By Brendan Loy
At 10:45 PM last night, I was sitting on an MTA bus in Nashville, brooding silently. My "worst birthday ever" was winding down with a whimper. Oh, I'd had fun counting down to midnight with Kristy the night before (after which she serenaded me with an interpretive dance to the strains of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," played on my iTunes), and of course, I'd gotten my free taco from Taco Bell. But mostly, my 26th birthday had been drudgery: a six-hour mandatory CLE class, a pair of Southwest flights that had gotten me from Denver to Nashville, and now a couple of lonely bus rides. At 10:45, I was en route to the Greyhound station, from which I would depart for Knoxville. It looked like I'd be spending the final 75 minutes of my birthday travelling to, and then waiting around in, a grungy Greyhound station. (My bus wasn't scheduled to leave until 12:45 AM.) I was cranky, I missed Becky, and I was just generally annoyed about the overall suckiness of my birthday.
When the bus dropped me off at around 11:00, things got even worse, because now I was in the heart of Nashville at 5th and Broadway -- which, for those who don't know, is the home of a whole bunch of great honky-tonk bars. The sound of live music was wafting out into the street, tempting and torturing me.
I would love, I thought, to spend the last hour of my birthday sitting in a bar, listening to some live country music. And with almost two hours until my bus was scheduled to leave, and the bus station only three blocks away, I had time to do just that. But it was (I thought) logistically impossible: I was dragging around a suitcase and a garment bag and hauling a heavy backpack with, among other things, my laptop inside it. With all that luggage, I'd barely have fit through the door of one of the bars. And it's not like I could leave my luggage somewhere. I was traveling alone, so I had nobody to watch my stuff. So I turned away from the awesomeness of Nashville nightlife and resigned myself to the fact that the last hour of my birthday would be just as crappy as the first 23 hours. Up the hill toward the Greyhound station I walked, still brooding.
But then! When I got to the station at around 11:10, I beheld a miracle: it has lockers!!! Okay, maybe not a "miracle," but a possibility I hadn't considered, for sure. Anyway, yeah, the station has lockers -- big ones -- so I didn't hesitate: I picked up my bus ticket at will call, then stuffed all of my bags into a locker, secured it, and headed right back out into the night, back to 5th & Broadway, to finish off my birthday in style.
It was about 11:25 when I got back there, so I figured I had about 35 minutes at the bars before I needed to head back to the station. Naturally, I resolved to make the most of it. So I started out at Second Fiddle, where I listened to a couple of songs; then I headed to Layla's Bluegrass Inn for a couple more songs; then to Tootsies for a couple more (including "Happy Birthday," although they were singing it to an attractive young lady on the dance floor, not to me); and finally (or so I thought) to Legends Corner for yet a couple more. Totally awesome.
When the band at Legends finished playing "Sweet Home Alabama," which I love, and I saw that it was 11:58, I figured that was my cue to leave. So I tipped the band and headed out, crossing the street with every intention of turning away and trudging back up to the Greyhound station. But then I glanced into the window of the Full Moon Saloon, and found myself drawn inexorably inside by the gravitational pull of the comely female fiddle player in the snug blue jeans. (It was the fiddle that drew me in, of course; I love fiddles. What did you think I meant?) Unfortunately, that band wrapped up their set literally 20 or 30 seconds after I walked in the door, so I headed back out onto the street again... but now my appetite was whetted for one more bar, one more band, one or two more songs. Hey, it's only your 26th birthday once!
It was midnight now, but I reckoned I could afford another 5 or 10 minutes. So I slipped into The Wheel next door. The band there played a couple of nice songs, and then at around 12:07, busted out Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire." Now that is a thoroughly proper way to end a session of honky-tonk bar-hopping, not to mention a birthday (albeit a few minutes late). I hooted as they started playing it, sang along for the chorus, then walked back out the door (applauding as I went) after they finished. I turned left and headed back toward the Greyhound station. It was 12:11 AM. I got back to the station at 12:19, retrieved my stuff from the locker, and made my 12:45 bus with plenty of time to spare. I even got a good seat.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a crappy birthday turns awesome at (literally) the eleventh hour. In 45 minutes, I went to six bars, listened to six bands, and totally redeemed my birthday. Then I slept like a baby on the bus ride home. And I'm half-consciously humming "Ring of Fire" as I write this.
I love Nashville. :)
By Brendan Loy
I took this picture in Denver. Now I'm in Kansas City, where the plane has a stopover before continuing to Nashville. Sitting near a mother and two little kids, I realized: this is very likely the last time I'll travel when I'm not a dad. Holy cow.
By Brendan Loy
Plans are still somewhat up in the air, but it's looking increasingly likely that I'll be visiting Denver again from October 28-30. It will be essentially a business trip, and it'll suck to be away from Becky on my birthday, but on the bright side, I'll be in Denver on the evenings when Game 4 and, if necessary, Game 5 of the World Series are being played there. Of course, I hope I'll be rooting against the Rockies, but if the Indians do manage to close out the ALCS against the Red Sox, then I'll be root, root, rooting for the home team. Either way, although I don't expect to go to any games, it'll be fun to be in town while they're going on. Kristy and V live right downtown, less than a mile from Coors Field and in the midst of a central strip with tons of bars and such.
Then, next month, Becky and I will be going to a pair of Tennessee basketball games: the men's home opener against Temple on November 9, and the Lady Vols' showdown with Texas on November 18. There will be bigger games during the SEC season, of course, but we wanted to make it out to Thompson-Boling Arena before the baby comes. Anyway, the tickets came in the mail yesterday and today, and I've added the games to my countdown sidebar at left (along with my birthday -- dunno why I wasn't counting down to that before!).
Speaking of games, Jay and I may be going to a UT football game before the season is out -- probably either South Carolina on October 27 or Arkansas on November 10. But that's still up in the air as well.
More immediately, next Thursday, Becky and I are going to the WDVX Birthday Party at the Bijou Theater. So that should be fun. And on Tuesday, we start taking a birthing/baby class, where we get to learn all about, uh, birthing and babies and stuff.
So yeah. Lots of stuff to look forward to!
P.S. Breaking news: Shannon got a puppy! AWW!
UPDATE: Speaking of the Rockies, and of the SHA girls, Kristy was at Coors Field when Colorado won the pennant Monday night. She sent me a cell-phone photo earlier today:
Cool.
By Brendan Loy
We just met up with Brian Neudorff, TV meteorologist and fellow weatherblogger, and his wife Trisha and their three adorable boys, at Timmy Ho's in Erie. That was fun. Here's a photo of Brian and me just before we left:
Brian and Trisha are both guestbloggers and commenters here on BrendanLoy.com, so that makes them #5 and #6 on the list of blog-friends we've met in person. :)
Now, we continue en route back to Knoxville... and I'm going to try out Google Maps's new "embed" feature:
Ooooh, aaaah. :)
When we re-enter the state of Tennessee this evening, I think we'll be there to stay for a while. With my job starting on Tuesday and Becky's pregnancy getting further and further along with each passing day (obviously), this promises to be the end of our recent interstate rambling -- we've been out-of-state for 21 of the last 44 days -- and the beginning of a "calm before the storm" period preceding the baby's birth. Which is perfectly fine with both of us. We've had a great time with our recent travels, but we're both pretty exhausted, and since exhaustion will become a permanent state of being once the baby arrives, we're both keen to be a little bit more laid back these next few months, to take advantage of the opportunity to relax while we still have it. I look forward to many forthcoming weekends of watching college football and not doing 1,400-mile round-trip drives. :)
My other sites